Sunday 29 July 2012

Macro Monday - Blue Starfish

I expected that the Great Barrier Reef would be bright, but I have to say I was pretty shocked when more or less the first thing I saw was a bright blue star fish.  And as you can see it’s not blue in a pale washed out sort of way, it (they!) were bluer than cheap jeans.
The common name of this star fish is The Blue Starfish (!) and its scientific name is Linckia laevigat.   In the end we saw quite a few of these wonderful animals.  They are not much bigger across than an adults hand, but they are smaller than the smiles they create in kids!
This is the first of my special “reef week” posts – more to come.
You can find more macro shots at Macro Monday.
You can find the latest post to my other blog by clicking on the Paying Ready Attention image on the RHS of the screen.
Enjoy the close ups.

24 comments:

  1. Hahaha, we don't need to go to the Great Barrier Reef to see that. In our shores here we have them too. By the way, i once saw a big abalone on a rock near the shore in Newcastle, NSW. Isn't it supposed to be seen deeper in the water.

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  2. What a bright blue. When I first saw the picture without reading your post (hadn't put the glasses on)I wondered why you had drawn a starfish with a felt pen! Dumb or what! Special underwater camera?

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  3. Looks like a childs nerf toy. But I too like Fun60 first thought you drew in a blue mark for some reason.

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  4. What an amazingly bright color!! Terrific capture, Stewart!!

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  5. Wow! Even with all the starfish I've seen on television programs, I've never seen one that blue before. That's pretty cool, Stewart!

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  6. Stewart, great captures! Lovely underwater shots!

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  7. Oh that is a beautiful color starfish. I had to show my husband, he loves marine life. We have a salt water tank and boy would this look wonderful sitting on the bottom. What lovely photo's..

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  8. That really is amazing! I've never seen one so blue! I'm visiting from Red Shouldered hawks blog!

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  9. Nice photos! We lot's of starfish around here, but no blue ones! They are kind of whimsical looking...

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  10. Fabulous colour Stewart - seems almost too blue to be true doesn't it? (but I'm not casting aspersions!). Nature continually surprises and astounds. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. oh would've been really great to see this; had you taken the photos through a glass-bottom boat Stewart?

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  12. Oh, my goodness. I thought it was a stuffed toy or something. That is an amazing bright blue. Very interesting post.

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  13. Wow! I am used to you showing birds I've never heard of, but now you add a starfish.... that is just beautiful!!!

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  14. That is a new one for me - I love the bright color. It certainly would be hard to miss!

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  15. Hello Stewaet.
    Great pictures you show.
    Have never seen / read about a blue starfich.
    Hanne Bente

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  16. I like your blue starfish! Great photos!

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  17. Lovely photos - the beautiful starfish really is the star of this post!

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  18. Excellent photography per usual and the blue starfish is amazing to me ~~ thanks, namaste, (A Creative Harbor)

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  19. Interesting shots. That blue really is amazing.

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  20. "bluer than cheap jeans" - I had to lol at that! What a great find this starfish was. He really does stand out!

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  21. That is such an amazing bright blue!

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  22. That is a superb royal blue. Enough to put a huge smile on anyone's face. What a pity I never saw one when we were up there.

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  23. Hello,

    I just found your Blog from Lavender Dreamer.

    The Blue Starfish is amazing.

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